Mavericks Win Despite Dirk Nowitzki's Subpar Performance

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It was a tough Saturday night in Oklahoma City for Dirk Nowitzki, who had only 18 points on 7-for-21 shooting, especially compared to his 46 and 29 points in the previous two games.

He also missed ten of his first 14 shots and had seven turnovers.

Did Dirk have a better night shooting from the 3-point range? Not really. He was 1-for-6. Once again, not the Nowitzki we witnessed when the Mavericks swept Lakers 4-0 in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Still, Nowitzki wasn’t deterred and he had his team’s trust.

"He's our guy. In the fourth quarters, he's going to touch the ball as frequently as we can get it to him," Coach Rick Carlisle said, according to The Associated Press. "If he misses a few shots, he's not going to get deterred, he's not going to get discouraged. He's got the kind of will, he's going to keep going at it."

And Nowitzki did pull through in the second half against the Oklahoma City Thunder; when a basket was needed for the Mavericks to seal the game, his 12-footer successfully found the basket.

"We didn't really have a lot going in the second half offensively, so I've got to keep attacking for this team like I have for the last 13 years," Nowitzki said, according to AP. "This team needs me to score and to keep being aggressive."

The final score was 93-87 with the Dallas Mavericks leading the series 2-1. Game four will take place in Oklahoma City on Monday, May 23rd at 9 p.m. ET.